MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Founding member of Plaza de Mayo Grandmothers dies

A recent image of Delia holding her 1982 picture in which she protested against Argentina's military being so keen on Malvinas and so neglecting of their own people

Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo founding member Delia Giovanola passed away Monday at the age of 96, it was announced in Buenos Aires.

“We express our deepest sadness for the departure of another comrade, one of the founders of our Association, Delia Cecilia Giovanola,” reads a statement from the human rights organization. She was one of the 12 original members of the group.

Months after joining Madres, she participated in the founding of Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo: “I was born from Madres to be an Abuela”, she said. Delia was a founder of the Grandmothers together with Alicia Zubasnabar de De la Cuadra, Mirta Acuña de Baravalle, Beatriz Aicardi de Neuhaus, María Eugenia Cassinelli de García Iruretagoyena, Eva Márquez de Castillo Barrios, María Isabel Chorobik de Mariani, Clara Jurado, Leontina Puebla de Pérez, Raquel Radío de Marizcurrena, Vilma Sesarego de Gutiérrez and Haydee Vallino de Lemos.

The 1926-born teacher was the mother of Jorge Oscar Ogando, who was in her own words “the desired son, beloved, companion, and friend.” Ogando married Stella Maris Montesano, a former private student of Delia's who in 1971 graduated as a lawyer. In June 1973 the couple had their first daughter, Virginia. On October 16, 1976, the couple was abducted from their home in La Plata. Stella Maris was eight months pregnant. Little Virginia was left in her crib. Delia took care of her.

According to survivors' testimonies, the couple had been held at the “El Pozo de Banfield” clandestine detention center, where Stella Maris gave birth to a baby boy on December 5, 1976. The child was later sold to a married couple, Delia found out.

In October of 1977, Delia was part of the founding group of Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo. That year she retired to devote herself to raising Virginia and to the search for “the children”, as she called them, which she never thought would be for life.

When Virginia turned 18, she joined her grandmother's quest. But in 2011, she went into a depression and took her own life at age 38.

On November 5, 2015, Delia found her grandson, Martín, was living abroad. He called her Grandma from day one.

“We started out without knowing how to search for a daughter, a son, a grandson,” Delia had said.

A photograph of Delia in 1982 went global. “The Malvinas are Argentine, the disappeared are too” - Delia held a sign reading that.